In Memoriam: David Vincent | Society for American Baseball Research

SABR member David Vincent, 67, of Centreville, Virginia, the preeminent expert on the history of home runs — which earned him the nickname “The Sultan of Swat Stats” — died on July 2, 2017, after a long battle with stomach cancer.

NL All-Star Zack Cozart expects Cincinnati Reds teammate Joey Votto to deliver on donkey pledge

Cozart said on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight that when Votto made the donkey pledge to him, “it started off as just ha, ha, ha ... but it got real really quick.”

He said that he expects Votto to fulfill his promise and now has to search for some land for the donkey to roam.

“Oh yeah, anybody that knows Joey Votto knows that donkey is going to be here,” he said. “This is happening—a legit, real donkey. No name picked out, but that will be the next order of business, that’s for sure.”

...Read More...

Jim Furtado Posted: July 03, 2017 at 10:08 AM | 16 comment(s)
  Beats: joey votto, reds, zack cozart

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-3-2017

Butte Post, July 3, 1917:

Blind in one eye, William Forsythe, a 19-year-old pitcher, is trying to make his way in baseball fame despite his infirmity and a crippled pitching hand, like the famous “Miner”’ Brown.

Forsythe lost the thumb of his right hand several years ago, but a stumplike portion allows him to get a firm grip on the ball. He has a choice assortment of curves and pitches with great speed and control. He recently fanned 35 men in two games, holding his opponents to three hits in ...

Pirates notebook: Andrew McCutchen to keep CF job; Starling Marte says he made ‘a mistake’ | TribLIVE

More info in the article.

“Marte is going to play left field and maybe (play) a game or two in center,” in the minors, Hurdle said. “Marte will come back (to the Pirates) as a left fielder.”

Hurdle was asked if the move was made out of respect to McCutchen, who has enjoyed a renaissance at the plate and in the field during Marte’s absence.

“That’s just where (Marte) needs to fit in,” Hurdle said.

A’s want longer look at Blackburn, demote Hahn - San Francisco Chronicle

Hahn admitted to having “that dead arm feeling” and being a bit tired, which might have been a reason for his velocity dip. He didn’t rule out resting for seven or eight days and knows he has things to address at Nashville.

“Taking a step back and getting my body right again and making sure I’m 100 percent healthy,” said Hahn, who spent time on the disabled list in late May and early June with a triceps strain. “I think maybe these last couple of starts, my stuff hasn’t been as ...

Sandy Alderson values durability over velocity | Newsday

I will believe it when I see it.

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said Friday that the greater trend of pitching injuries in the game could cause major shifts in coming years. He sees durability becoming more important in evaluating pitchers and the current emphasis on pitching velocity being reduced.

“I think what you’ll find over the next several years is clubs will be more interested in ‘pack horses’ instead of ‘thoroughbreds’ because it’s about being able to go out . . . ...

OMNICHATTER sheds its grace on thee, for July 3, 2017

2017 All-Star Game rosters

This time it doesn’t count!

⭐️⭐️ And here they are - Congratulations to YOUR 2017 #ASG Starters! ⭐️⭐️ pic.twitter.com/RWlZJs3F19

— MLB Network Radio (@MLBNetworkRadio) July 2, 2017

WHERE THE 2017 TOP 50 INTERNATIONAL PROSPECTS ARE SIGNING

Our list below contains where Baseball America’s Top 50 international prospects have agreed to sign. As is the case with any signing, these agreements are all pending an officially signed contract and approval from the commissioner’s office, but these players have reached agreements to sign with teams.

Players who are still 15 are not yet eligible to sign until they turn 16 either later this month or in August. However, No. 11 prospect Ronny Rojas is expected to sign with the Yankees, No. ...

Jim Bouton, Author and Former Pitcher, Struggles With Brain Disease

It is good for Bouton to have company, said his wife, Paula Kurman, who has a doctorate in interpersonal communications from Columbia. They have been married for 35 years and have lived here for more than 20, among the foxes and black bears, surrounded by pine trees. A cloud might roll by, straight through the screened-in porch, and there are no other homes in sight. Their children are grown and live elsewhere.

Bouton had a stroke five years ago this Aug. 15. They know the date because it was ...

Sunday Notes: Blake Parker is an Angel Who Can Save | FanGraphs Baseball

“I don’t know if this is a good analogy, but the only thing I can compare it to is picturing yourself sitting on the beach,” [Taylor] Rogers told me. “If you can close your eyes and picture yourself on the beach, you can start to hear the waves, and feel the sand, and the warm air. It’s kind of like a daydream. It’s, ‘OK, Chris Davis is coming up, and here we go.’ By the time I get out there, my brain has already seen him.”

What it hasn’t seen is the result of the pitch. ...

Olney: Aaron Judge is chasing history by not chasing bad pitches - Buster Olney Blog- ESPN

But his walk rate in 2017 shows he understands a lot of principles that some hitters never conquer. A common response to a thriving young hitter is to tempt him with pitches out of the strike zone, and so far, Judge has demonstrated unusual discipline. As of Saturday morning, his chase rate was 24.4 percent, 30th best in the majors and better than old pros like Dexter Fowler, Logan Morrison, Matt Holliday and Buster Posey.

Joey Votto is regarded as a master of plate discipline, perhaps the ...

AquaSox’s White has tools, work ethic to be big-league success | HeraldNet.com

Meet the Mariners’ number one pick.

Kyle Schwarber rediscovering his form in Iowa: ‘This is a positive time’ - Chicago Tribune

“There is no feeling sorry,” he said. “Trust me. I did it to myself. I’m the one who was out there playing every day. This is a positive time.

“Talking to my parents, they were very supportive, and my girlfriend is here with me, and it’s all supportive. It’s just the extra reinforcement you get.”

Why the Mets’ dream of a super rotation has gone all wrong | New York Post

Generation K redux.

Top international prospects sign on July 2 | MLB.com

Happy 2nd!

Bradley Zimmer makes great catch in Detroit | MLB.com

Two “3-star plays”.

In a short amount of time, Zimmer has established himself as one of the game’s most promising young center fielders.

In addition to boasting the Indians’ hardest-hit ball since 2015 when Statcast™ was introduced (114.6 mph on May 30), Zimmer has the hardest-thrown outfield assist in the Majors this season (101.5 mph on June 18) and ranks third in baseball in Sprint Speed (29.8 feet per second). Now, Zimmer has a pair of 3-star plays (one diving catch to rob Mahtook in each ...

MLB, stung by juiced-ball gripes, sends memo to clubs claiming ‘no evidence’ ball changed

The memo, a one-page, 18-point document, notes that balls are tested at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell Baseball Research Center at least three times a year. Those tests measure the ball’s size, weight and COR (bounciness), seam height, circumference and weight.

MLB notes that the average COR measure of balls used this season was 0.555, slightly lower than the 2016 figure, which it did not cite. The higher the COR, the greater the ball’s exit velocity on contact.

The memo’s summary ...

Astros’ David Paulino suspended 80 games for PED violation

David Paulino, who represented rotation depth for the Astros and is also regarded as one of their best prospects, was suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball on Saturday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
Paulino will not appeal his suspension, which spells the end of his season. The 23-year-old Dominican righthander won’t be eligible to be included on a postseason roster. He tested positive for Boldenone, a substance in violation of MLB’s drug prevention and treatment ...

OMNICHATTER is the new black, for July 1 & 2, 2017

Each MLB team’s unlikeliest All-Star this century. | Sports on Earth

New York Yankees: Mike Stanton, 2001. Stanton pitched for 19 years in the Majors, for eight different teams, but he only got on one All-Star roster for a stacked Yankees team that had six other All-Stars. Amusing factoid: Stanton pitched in 1,178 games and started only one, in 1999, also for the Yankees. He pitched four shutout innings in a bullpen game before giving way to Jason Grimsley (!) and Mariano Rivera.

ESPN: Happy Bobby Bonilla Day! His annual $1.19 million payday is here

Might as well get it over with…

With seven payments now in, Bonilla has now collected $8,352,737.40. There are 18 more payments due to Bonilla through 2035. When all the payments are made, Bonilla will have turned that $5.9 million into $29.8 million.

But that’s not all.

Bonilla also has deferred money that is being paid by the Mets and the Baltimore Orioles, who took Bonilla for the final year and a half (1995 and 1996) of his first Mets contract, a five-year deal signed in December 1991 ...

Dave Roberts, Andy Green ejected after fracas | MLB.com

Nobody is stealing this sign.

via GIPHY

No humidor at Chase Field for Diamondbacks in 2017

Along with a better grip for the pitchers, the humidor was expected by physicists to decrease offense. Notably, Alan Nathan wrote an article six years ago for Baseball Prospectus that analyzed the effect of the humidor at Coors Field. He also looked at Chase Field at that time because there were rumors even back then of a humidor coming to Arizona. Nathan predicted a 37 percent reduction in home runs at Chase Field, which is even greater than the actual reduction in home runs at Coors Field ...

Adam Dunn—The home run-strikeout artist ahead of his time

Rob Deer wasn’t available?

Red Sox LHP David Price And Dennis Eckersley Have Confrontation

I hope Price pitches well enough to opt out of his contract. I already dread the last few years. His temperament will only make his end that much worse.

Pipeline Inbox: 2017 All-Star Futures Game | MLB.com

I have been to every Futures Game except one (the birth of my daughter won out over the 2004 edition in Houston), so there’s a lot of history to sift through. In some ways, answering this question really would require a longer look at future success, sort of like evaluating the Draft. I don’t mean to kick this down the road, but seeing how many of this year’s Futures Gamers go on to not only get to the big leagues, but become impact players would be the true measure.

I will say that in terms ...

Baseball’s Analytics Society Sees a Problem: Avg. Age, Members

Think Comic-Con, only with gray hair and a slightly stooped posture.

June sees greatest number of home runs in 1 month in MLB history

Smoak’s home run was the 1,070th across the majors in June, breaking the previous mark set in May 2000…..

The 2000 season had 5,693 home runs overall—the most of any MLB campaign. This year’s pace of 6,139 would smash that record.

Entering Friday, the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge (27) and Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger (24)—both in the midst of phenomenal rookie campaigns—lead their respective leagues in home runs this season.

There has been at least one player with a multihomer game ...

Boston Red Sox release Allen Craig

The Red Sox announced on Friday that they have released first baseman Allen Craig.

The 32-year-old Craig never panned out in Boston after a July 2015 trade to the club from St. Louis along with Joe Kelly in exchange for John Lackey and minor league pitcher Corey Littrell.

Craig appeared in just 65 games for the Red Sox hitting .152 with one double and one homer.

He spent the entirety of 2016 and 2017 in Triple-A Pawtucket. He hit .253 with a .668 OPS in 47 games with the PawSox this ...